A/69/286 Given the emotive nature of most television advertising, the manner in which most digital advertising is processed and the development of new forms of advertising, such as embedded, viral and native advertising, assumptions about cognitive defence need thorough investigation. To the extent that any cognitive defence exists, advertising seeks to circumvent it. 61. Special attention is required in sectors escaping regulations on advertising to children, such as in the recruitment of children as brand ambassadors on social media 34 and advertising on mobile devices and in video games. Children are particularly vulnerable to such practices. 35 62. In this context, initiatives to increase media literacy are praiseworthy. Their effectiveness, however, is largely untested. 2. Advertising in schools 63. Most international human rights standards and national laws on education place a legal obligation on children to attend school. Schools therefore constitute a distinct cultural space, deserving special protection from commercial influence. 64. The growing presence of advertising in schools is documented. 36 Numerous examples exist of company logos appearing on school materials, including textbooks and educational material, as well as on school premises; company logos as the central focus of sponsored lessons; television in schools providing “educational content” with advertising; shows by characters representing brands; vending machines or coffee bars occupying school space to sell a nd promote particular brands and/or products; contests organized by banks; sponsorship of school buses, sports fields or school names; branded road safety material; incentive programmes with supermarkets offering vouchers for school laptops or cameras; school fund-raising strategies encouraging families to enter into commercial relations with companies that donate to schools; exclusive agreements granting a company exclusive rights to provide a service and/or product; the recruitment of schoolchildren to serve as brand ambassadors and so on. The Special Rapporteur considers school premises as encompassing not only the school itself, including cafeterias, libraries, playgrounds and sports facilities, but also their immediate vicinity, as well as school buses. 65. Schoolchildren offer a captive and credulous audience. Companies see school based marketing and advertising as perfectly suited to “branding” children at an early age. Marketing and advertising programmes are normalized and given legitimacy when embedded in the school context; the strategies deployed lead children to interact and engage with particular brands during school time. 30 Furthermore, the sponsoring of school material and educational content reduces the freedom educational institutions have for developing the most appropriate and highest-quality curriculum for their students. __________________ 34 35 36 14-58963 Denmark has prohibited this practice. Agnes Nairn and Haiming Hang, “Advergames: it’s not child’s play”, Family and Parenting Institute, London, 2012; www.agnesnairn.co.uk/policy_reports/advergames -its-not-childsplay.pdf. For example in Brazil, by the Alana Institute: http://criancaeconsumo.org.br/, or in the United States of America by the Commercialism in Education Research Unit: http://nepc.colorado.edu/ ceru-home. 15/26